The present invention relates to improvements in fishing apparatuses and is more particularly concerned with an automatic hook setting device for setting in a fish a hook connected to a fishing line in response to a pull exerted by the fish on the line.
Various devices in the form of tripable fishing rod holders have heretofore been suggested. Such devices generally include a spring-loaded holder for the rod handle and are trigger-actuated by tension applied to the fishing line by the bite of a fish to move the pole in an upright position and impose a jerking movement on the line to set the hook in the mouth of the fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,499, for example, proposes a fishing rod holder which includes a rod support arm pivotally mounted on a vertical post for pivotal movement between a generally horizontal position and a generally upright position, and a spring for biasing the support arm toward the upright position. A trigger latch mechanism is provided for holding the arm in the horizontal position against the pressure of the spring. This latch mechanism comprises a first latch element pivotally mounted at one end on the support arm and carrying at its other end a rotatable round pin, and a second latch element pivotally mounted on a forward extension secured to the post. The second latch element is formed at one end with a hook for engaging the rotatable pin carried by the first latch element to thereby hold the support arm in the horizontal position. The second latch element is further provided at its other end with a fixed pin for frictional engagement with the fishing line. When the fishing rod is set in the holder with the fishing line running from the reel, around the fixed pin to the forward end of the rod and thence to the water, the tension imposed on the line by a fish pull will thus be transmitted to the fixed pin, causing the second latch element to pivotally move and its hook to release the rotatable pin whereupon the spring pivots the support arm into an upright position. As a result, a jerk is effected on the line, which causes the hook to be set in the mouth of the fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,035 discloses a similar tripable fishing rod holder. However, instead of employing two pivoted latch elements, use is made of an eyelet depending from the rod support, and a pivotally mounted latch having at its upper end a hook for engagement with the eyelet and, at lower end, an elongated trip for receiving a loop formed in the fishing line, passing beneath the trip. A tug on the line is first transmitted to the loop, causing an upward movement of the trip and a consequent swinging of the lower end of the latch. This results in the disengagement of the hook from the eyelet, whereupon the spring-loaded rod support freely swings upwardly in response to the action of the spring.
The devices of both the aforementioned patents are thus actuated by means of the fishing line which serves to move the latch either via a pin as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,499 or via a loop receiving trip as in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,035. Since the rod support is normally biased upwardly by the action of the spring and the latch serves to retain the rod support in the horizontal position against the upward force exerted by the spring, sufficient tension must be imposed by the fish on the fishing line in order to set off the device. Such tripable fishing rod holders generally are not sensitive enough to be sprung or set off in response to a fish lightly nibbling at a baited hook.
Other known devices have been proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,298, with a view to increasing the sensitivity of release and the effectiveness of the hook-setting action. These devices, however, are quite intricate in structure, expensive and complicated to use.